This work explores the use of learning theories in curriculum development and gathers evidence for what good practice in this area looks like. By exploring the academic literature in this area, the authors hope to find information that curriculum documents do not provide. The following research questions were proposed: (1) Is there evidence of…

In recent years, literacy achievement among school-aged students has received growing attention in Aotearoa New Zealand. Particular focus has been paid to reports of declining literacy levels over the past decade. In both the academic literature and popular press, a myriad of reasons have been proffered for this decline; however, the evidence base…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted some traditional assessment practices and drawn attention to the range of evidence students produce in their day-to-day learning. In this edition of Assessment News, Charles Darr and Rosemary Hipkins argue that using this evidence to make sound summative judgements requires a robust understanding of what it…

Ontological politics has received increasing attention within education policy studies, particularly as a support for the notion of policy enactment. While policy enactment offers serious challenges to traditional approaches toward policy implementation, this paper takes up ontological politics as a concept that extends beyond implementation and…

Researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers in many countries are grappling with ways to address the persistent problem of inequitable educational outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged students. This paper reports the results of a unique cross-country, cross-cultural analysis undertaken to provide insights into teaching practices that…

In March 2019 the Ministry of Education (MOE) commissioned NZCER to conduct an exploratory study of curriculum levelling in the Science and Mathematics and Statistics learning areas of "The New Zealand Curriculum" (NZC). The study was prompted in part by a desire to probe possible reasons for patterns of achievement reported by the…

Much of the evidence translation literature focuses narrowly on the use of evidence in the initial policy formulation stages, and downplays the crucial role of institutions and the inherently political nature of policy making. More recent approaches acknowledge the importance of institutional and political factors, but make no attempt to…

This study systematically reviews research evidence regarding two questions: (1) to what extent do schools gain insight into the quality of their own functioning as a result of an inspection? and (2) what are the emotional consequences of inspections experienced by school staff? It provides a review of empirical research studies published as…

The ecological approach, based on the RTLB Toolkit that guides RTLBs in New Zealand, is one of the seven principles used for interventions for students with learning and behaviour concerns. As a result of a paradigm shift moving from a functional limitations perspective to a more inclusive/ecological perspective in 1999, RTLBs have been trained…

Many children view favourite feature films repeatedly at home and develop understandings of them. This article discusses findings from a study which focused on the understandings that 9- and 10-year-old children showed about character in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." These findings are reported in terms of a framework…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore academics' perspectives on the quality of appraisal evidence at a Chinese university. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey with both closed items and open-ended questions was distributed among all academics at the university (n = 1,538). A total of 512 responded to the questionnaire. The closed items…

There is an extensive international research literature on the effect of ability grouping (e.g., tracking, streaming, banding, setting) on children's academic and behavioral outcomes. However, it is questionable to what extent the findings of research on this topic have influenced the practice of ability grouping in New Zealand schools. Fifteen…

Background: The present study investigates what factors related to the school context influence student achievement on TIMSS mathematics tests across countries. A systematic review of the literature on PIRLS, TIMSS, and ICCS was conducted upstream to identify those school, teacher, and classroom factors shown to be useful predictors of student…

The agencies responsible for tertiary education quality assurance in Australia and New Zealand have established regulatory regimes that increasingly intersect with tertiary institution policy management. An examination of university meta-policies identified good practices guiding university policy and policy management. Most Australian and half of…

This paper reports data from an exploratory questionnaire designed to capture "curriculum P-waves"--those curriculum responses that were the fastest and therefore measured first--following a significant earthquake in New Zealand. As well as taking a professional interest in a major disaster in their backyard, it is assumed that social…